This article is about the location. For the chapter, see Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place (chapter).
Introduction[]
| “ | Number twelve, Grimmauld Place is used as the Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix, and is the ancestral family home of Sirius Black. | ” |
From the Story[]
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix[]
Discovered in chapter 4, Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place[]
| “ | Grimmauld Place is a small square in London. The houses surrounding the patch of unkempt grass in the middle of the square are not welcoming; some have broken windows, paint peels from many of the front doors and heaps of rubbish lie outside several front steps.
Number twelve, Grimmauld Place is not visible on the street to a Muggle, even the house numbers go straight from number ten to number thirteen. To enter the house, one must memorise the address, and think about it in their mind. Then a battered door will emerge out of nowhere between numbers eleven and thirteen, followed swiftly by dirty walls and grimy windows, as though an extra house has inflated and pushed the others out of its way. The stone steps to the front door are worn, and the black door is shabby and scratched, a silver doorknocker in the form of a twisted serpent the only decoration. Inside, the house is dark and gloomy, and gives the impression of belonging to the Darkest of wizards. Old fashioned gas-lamps line the walls of the hallway, casting a little light over the peeling wallpaper and threadbare carpet. A cobwebby chandelier glimmers above the hallway, and age-blackened portraits hang, crooked, on the walls. Both the chandelier and the candelabra on the hall table are shaped like serpents. There is a door at the end of the hallway, and a pair of long, moth-eaten curtains hanging over part of the hallway wall. The dark staircase beyond the curtains leads upstairs, past a row of shrunken house-elf heads mounted on plaques on the wall. The house has been empty for a long time, and those who are now living there have been decontaminating it room by room. |
” |
Discovered in chapter 6, The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black[]
| “ | Sirius's father, Orion Black, placed every security measure known to wizardkind on the house when he lived there, so that Muggles could never come and call. With Dumbledore's additional protection, you would be hard pressed to find a safer house. Dumbledore is the Secret Keeper for the Order of the Phoenix, and that protection extends to the house; no-one can find the Headquarters until he tells them personally where it is. | ” |